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My first audiophile grade stereo amp and WOW OMG!

AMPaul

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Joined
Feb 23, 2021
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Dear Forum, i am just a simple man that has finally bought a 2nd hand real audiophile stereo amp.

My actual journey began 9 years ago when i bought my first and only AVR (Onkyo TXSR308). I went on to purchase a pair of Wharfedale 9.1 as my main stereo speakers plus a subwoofer a center (Mordaunt Short C something) and 2 satellite speakers for the rear. I was happy back then and was enjoying the 5.1 goodness.

As years went by i gradually stopped doing the surround thing ( got married and other stuff) so no WAF for a 5.1 system, and slowly got into Stereo Listening. So what i did was use the AVR in Stereo mode with the 9.1s. I was happy wasn't really listening much until last year when the pandemic hit. it was just a nice music system in the living room for entertainment and movies.

4 months ago things changed: i started watching all these speaker placement tutorials and realized that i was listening in a non optimized way. I optimized that and then i started looking at 2nd hand stereo amps. To be honest my train of thought was let me spend a bit of money to see what the fuss is all about. I always thought that my 75W/channel Onkyo was more than enough ( which they were) and that the sound from the Onkyo AVR +9.1s was good. AND THEN i got today the new stereo amp: a 2nd hand well kept NAD C320BEE (for £90 delivery included). BOY I WAS MISSING OUT ON STUFF!!!

I have been listening for 2.5 hrs now and i am totally blown away. Let me re state that i was highly skeptical about all these people on audiophile forums and etc that were bashing the AVRs in stereo mode. I thought it was just old men with confirmation biases. I WAS WRONG, So wrong... The NAD makes my 9.1s sound like a different set of speakers, the dynamic range/the powerful sound that comes through them now, the low frequency bass that i actually barely heard before with the AVR... the control in the lows and mids...simply mind-blowing. Also perhaps this is a NAD thing, but it feels like the space between instrument on sound stage is somehow filled with sound and reverbs.... but overall that punchy control bass and some sort of smoothness!!! and how every instrument sound like an actual instrument... Even my wife says that she can definitely tell the sound is better.

I just wanted to share my amazement and happiness with you lot.
 

antcollinet

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Sep 4, 2021
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It measured well in Amirm's review here.

And you seem to have got it at a pretty good price. Congratulations - enjoy your new music.
 

JRS

Major Contributor
Joined
Sep 22, 2021
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Albuquerque, NM USA
Dear Forum, i am just a simple man that has finally bought a 2nd hand real audiophile stereo amp.

My actual journey began 9 years ago when i bought my first and only AVR (Onkyo TXSR308). I went on to purchase a pair of Wharfedale 9.1 as my main stereo speakers plus a subwoofer a center (Mordaunt Short C something) and 2 satellite speakers for the rear. I was happy back then and was enjoying the 5.1 goodness.

As years went by i gradually stopped doing the surround thing ( got married and other stuff) so no WAF for a 5.1 system, and slowly got into Stereo Listening. So what i did was use the AVR in Stereo mode with the 9.1s. I was happy wasn't really listening much until last year when the pandemic hit. it was just a nice music system in the living room for entertainment and movies.

4 months ago things changed: i started watching all these speaker placement tutorials and realized that i was listening in a non optimized way. I optimized that and then i started looking at 2nd hand stereo amps. To be honest my train of thought was let me spend a bit of money to see what the fuss is all about. I always thought that my 75W/channel Onkyo was more than enough ( which they were) and that the sound from the Onkyo AVR +9.1s was good. AND THEN i got today the new stereo amp: a 2nd hand well kept NAD C320BEE (for £90 delivery included). BOY I WAS MISSING OUT ON STUFF!!!

I have been listening for 2.5 hrs now and i am totally blown away. Let me re state that i was highly skeptical about all these people on audiophile forums and etc that were bashing the AVRs in stereo mode. I thought it was just old men with confirmation biases. I WAS WRONG, So wrong... The NAD makes my 9.1s sound like a different set of speakers, the dynamic range/the powerful sound that comes through them now, the low frequency bass that i actually barely heard before with the AVR... the control in the lows and mids...simply mind-blowing. Also perhaps this is a NAD thing, but it feels like the space between instrument on sound stage is somehow filled with sound and reverbs.... but overall that punchy control bass and some sort of smoothness!!! and how every instrument sound like an actual instrument... Even my wife says that she can definitely tell the sound is better.

I just wanted to share my amazement and happiness with you lot.
I was looking at the specs listed in Amir's review and saw that by the usual standards it is not that much different than your Onkyo when 8 ohms steady state output is compared (NAD = 68 W into 8 ohms). I would hazard a guess that an important cause of your glee is that it delivers nearly 160W peak power into 4 ohms (where the 9.1's are close to in the power hungry bass range). Moral of the story is that continuous power specs are only part of the story, having a lot of reserve is the other part of the power eqn. A "compromise" can be achieved by trading the greater expense of a "stiff" power supply for smaller continuous output while preserving good dynamic performance. Sounds like it was a winning formula here at a great price.

BTW it's not that unusual for ne plus ultra power amps to cost 5, even 6 figures (gulp). This is way beyond the diminishing returns which likely plateaus at say a quite able Class D amp capable of 200-300W/channel costing one to two thousand dollars. Not that a new amp would be a benefit with your existing setup--but once hooked, the urge to upgrade everything can be powerful.

As an audio junkie in recovery, let me say that one of the best bang/buck measures going forward, should you wish, would be to get a miniDSP and EQ which has the potential to make your speakers sound even more natural/remarkable, while not costing an arm and a leg. I'd imagine it would be as great an improvemment as the one you are enjoying now. But that's a bit of a project involving measurements, yet a great investment in time to keep things on the cheap. And some of the newer inexpensive speakers are achieving remarkable results for the cost, and don't require such. It's a very good time to get involved in the hobby. Welcome.
 
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